M Is For Malice (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) by Sue Grafton

Good "basic" detective story

Published in 1996.

How much more "back to basics" can you get than this? A multi-millionaire dies. The current will is missing so an older one has to be used. The dis-inherited black sheep son is found and brought back to the mansion. Murder and mayhem follow.

Kinsey's personal life continues to evolve in M Is For Malice. Set in 1986, the total lack of laptop computers, internet & cell phones are a bit jarring and will probably confuse younger readers (why doesn't she just google this person?) who don't pick up on the clues, do the math and figure out what year it is.

I am an occasional reader of the Kinsey Millhone series rather than a hardcore fan, but it seems to me that they have a tendency to get better, rather than weaker like most series.

I rate this novel 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: M Is for Malice by Sue Grafton.

Reviewed on March 24, 2008.

The Iron Will of Jefferson Davis by Cass Canfield

A flawed biography of a man who is often overlooked

Published in 1981 by Fairfax Press.

Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) is an oft-overlooked figure in American history, especially when compared to his presidential counterpart in the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln. This biography is not recommended as a place to start by this history teacher, though. It has too many flaws.

First, there are strong points:

1. The basics of Davis's life are correct.

2. Lots of good pictures and maps.

Weak points:

The Iron Will of Jefferson DavisThe Iron Will of Jefferson Davis is replete with factual errors, such as claiming that Lexington, KY was "in the East" (pg. 8) in 1823, when this was clearly considered the "West" by Americans of the time. He claims that Southern slave plantation farming was more productive than Northern agriculture - this has been proving to be untrue, unless you consider that you can get extended growing seasons and get multiple crops in Deep South, which is all about climate, not slavery (pg. 11). He also erroneously claimed that "slave trading had almost died out by mid-nineteenth century." (pg. 11) International slave trading was nearly dead (but still in existence as demonstrated by the Amistad incident), but internal trading was alive and quite healthy.

He comments "if all plantation owners had treated their slaves as Jefferson did, slavery might have been considered a beneficent institution." (pg. 20) If this were a biography written in the early 20th century, I could understand such an ignorant statement about slavery. Not for a book published in 1978! Slavery as a positive!

He claims that plantation managers were among the first to be conscripted in 1862 (p. 22) - untrue. They were given exemptions throughout the war.

He claims on page 50 that all of the slave states were united in the war when Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware and Missouri never left the Union and West Virginia split from Virginia to stay in the Union.

He contradicts himself: On page 92 he notes the the choice by Lee to go on the offensive in September 1862 was poor because it was "a bad moment to wage an offensive in the North..." On page 93 he comments, "Had the Confederates won decisively at this time, Great Britain would probably have intervened on the side of the South and forced mediation." It was either a bad time or it wasn't.

Canfield blames George Pickett for Pickett's charge and excuses Lee (pg. 96). In reality, Pickett was all for making the charge but the decision to go rested entirely on Lee.

On page 102 he claims the Union had 100,000 African-American soldiers in 1864, and on page 104 claims it was 200,000.

In sum, the basics of Davis's life are correct, but so many other errors force me to recommend that those interested in Jefferson Davis look elsewhere.

I rate this biography 2 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Iron Will of Jefferson Davis.

Reviewed on March 25, 2008.

Racing Can Be Murder edited by Brenda R. Stewart and Tony Perona

Racing can be tough...

Published in 2007.

This collection of 19 short stories center in and around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, especially the Indy 500. Just to tell you up front, I am a big fan of both mysteries and the Indy 500 (I've been to every 500 since 1986.)

Most of the stories in Racing Can Be Murder are about 12-18 pages long and between the stories are little bits of information about the track or the Indy 500, including biographies and odd facts written by Wanda Lou Willis.

The stories are of varying quality, which is to be expected with so many authors contributing to this volume. I was especially fond of "Race to the Rescue" by Andrea Smith, "One Cold Dish" by S.M. Harding, "The Early Bird" by Lucy Coyle Schilling, "Driven to Death" by Tamera Huber and "The Volunteers" by Tamera Phillips. In all of them, the feel of Indianapolis and its West Side was well-portrayed, but it was especially well done in "The Land Grab" by Tony Perona. He tied in current events in the little town of Speedway quite nicely.

"Pre-Race Jiggers" by Wanda Lou Willis seemed out of place since it is much more of a ghost story than a mystery.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Racing Can Be Murder.

Reviewed on March 28, 2008.

The Narrows (Harry Bosch #10) (audiobook) by Michael Connelly

Thoroughly enjoyable audiobook

Published by Hachette Audio in 2004.
Read by Len  Cariou
Duration: 11 hours, 1 minute.

Unabridged.

Fans of Harry Bosch know that he is named for the Renaissance painter Hieronymus Bosch. Bosch the painter specialized in sweeping panoramic paintings of hell, with details of how individual sinners were being gouged, burned and otherwise tormented by gleeful demons. Connelly has commented many times that Harry Bosch is meant to be our tour guide through the hellish side of Los Angeles - the world of serial killers, hidden sins and chaos. Interestingly, Bosch the detective sits in his house high in the hills of Los Angeles looking down on the panorama of it all, just as the viewer of a Bosch painting sees hell from high above.

In The Narrows, Bosch spends a great deal of time in Las Vegas. It would not be inappropriate to say that Vegas is "Sodom" to LA's "Gomorrah" - twins in sin. Bosch is worried that his daughter is growing up in Las Vegas and he is living there part-time trying to be the best father he can be. But, mostly he's in and out of Vegas on business in this story. Bosch investigates the death of a friend, confronts the FBI, encounters hookers, bikers and just some plain old lost souls all while hunting a killer and trying to be a dad. Besides being a Bosch book, it's also the sequel to two other books in the Connelly family of books: The Poet

Michael Connelly

and Blood Work.

I listened to this as a book on tape and found it thoroughly enjoyable and a welcome diversion during my daily commute. Len Cariou narrates and he does a fantastic job of finding Bosch's "voice". 5 stars for Cariou. 

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Narrows (Harry Bosch)

Reviewed on April 3, 2008.

Violets Are Blue (audiobook) by James Patterson

Sigh...

Published in 2005 by Hachette Audio.

Read by Daniel Whitner and Kevin O'Rourke
Duration: 8 hours, 10 minutes

Unabridged.

I used to think the Alex Cross series had a lot going for it. I used to be very impressed with it when I first discovered it about 10 years ago. I don't know if my tastes have improved or if the series has declined but this is definitely not as good as I remember them being (and frankly, I'm scared about going back and re-reading one of them and ruining my only strong memories of the series).

There are two concurrent plots in Violets are Blue. One involves an investigation into the "Goth" underworld and vampires (are they real or are they just people who are REALLY into vampires and like to act like they are real vampires..?)

The other story involves the recurring criminal mastermind character conveniently named "the Mastermind". I hate to write spoilers so I won't re-hash the entire plot here, but let me say that Patterson probably owes Michael Connelly an apology. Michael Connelly basically wrote the same thing several years earlier in the thriller The Poet (and he did it better, too!)

I keep thinking I'm going to really like a Patterson book again, but this is about the 5th in a row that I have not liked. I'm tired of searching for the needle in the proverbial Patterson haystack. The stories just lack the depth and the realism that they used to have.

The audiobook version is read by two narrators - Daniel Whitner and Kevin O'Rourke. One reads the part of Alex Cross, one covers nearly everything else. It lasts a little more than 8 hours.

I rate this audiobook 2 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Violets Are Blue (Alex Cross Novels)

Reviewed on April 13, 2008.

Civil War Adventure #2: Real History: More Stories of the War That Divided America (graphic novel) by Chuck Dixon (author) and Gary Kwapisz (illustrator)

History in a more approachable format (for some)

Originally published in 2011. Re-published in 2016 with additions.
This is a review of the 2011 publication.

All forms of media have their fans and detractors. History teachers (like me) often have mixed opinions about different formats. Movies show the viewer but often skip details or over-emphasize items in order to make the stories work better. Textbooks cover the basics but do it in a dry, boring manner. History books can tell the story with more detail, but give the topic to a bad writer and it is an impossible challenge to the reluctant reader. Audiobooks may help, but how many students will listen to a 13 hour history book? Historical fiction - it is a mixed bag, but has potential to keep the interest up and teach something along the way. The internet - it's literally all there - the good, the bad, the delusional.

As a teacher, I have always espoused the theory that I have borrowed from Malcolm X - teach it "by any means necessary." There are good movies out there. There are good books. Well-written historical fiction can do the job. The internet can be used if it is all verified with other sources. Graphic novels like Civil War Adventure #2: Real History: More Stories of the War That Divided America published by History Graphics Press have a place, too. While I would hate to think that someone got all of their knowledge about history from a graphic novel (or from movies or the internet or any one format), I have no problem with a student (or an adult) reading books like these for a bit of "edu-tainment" - certainly this is more edifying than most graphic novels I have read.

The best thing that Dixon and Kwapisz have done here is they have put the grit, sweat and fear back in a topic that the textbooks have mostly removed. Let's face it, the life of a Civil War soldier was dirty, full of hard work and at times, absolutely terrifying. You can't convey that with a map that shows a blue arrow moving along a map towards gray rectangles in a line. In the seven stories of this volume we see the "black flag" offered to African-American soldiers who fought for the Union (no mercy offered, no prisoners were to be taken for them or their officers), the gruesomeness of battlefield surgery, the heartbreak of the nurses who gave so much to help the wounded and the dying, and the dangers of going out on a little reconnaissance patrol in the middle of enemy territory.

I was particularly fond of the story of the Battle of Milliken's Bend in the story Will the Black Man Fight? which was a concern of the Union generals. They simply could not imagine that they were even more motivated than their white counterparts - with the take-no-prisoners policy of some Confederate generals and the threat of enslavement (or re-enslavement) the fact that those men would even join in the first place should have shown their willingness.

The emphasis is on the small, tiny bits of action in a vast war that killed hundreds of thousands and injured just as many and displaced an untold number. But, those small stories are bound to be forgotten as they are shoved aside by the larger stories of the war, so I am all for re-telling them here (and in other formats as well). Like I said in the beginning of this review, I would hate to think that this was the only source of information that a person had about the Civil War, but it is an entertaining supplement.

Used with permission of Gary Kwapisz

Gary Kwapisz's work on the art is very strong - lots of action, dramatic shading and he does not spare the reader the violence and pain of the war. This is not an episode of Gunsmoke, with its gunshot but no blood and a man wordlessly crumpling and dying. Men are bayoneted, there are gunshots through the head and a civil war surgeon's work is shown in hideous detail (I loved it - show it for what it was). I also loved the full page artwork (see left) in the story about Milliken's Bend with the buzzards gathering as the battle is about to start. Not only do we get a view of the battle from above, we feel the impending doom and we are told what motivated some of the Confederate soldiers.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Civil War Adventure #2: Real History: More Stories of the War That Divided America.

Reviewed on August 6, 2011.

Superman: The Never-Ending Battle (Justice League of America) (audiobook) by Roger Stern

GraphicAudio delivers the goods

Published in 2008.

Performed by 29 actors.
Duration: 6 hours

GraphicAudio promises "A Movie In Your Mind" and they come awfully close with 29 actors, special effects, music and a go-go-go plot. While not the best of the Justice League series that I have listened to, Superman: The Never-Ending Battle was still quite entertaining.

Superman and the rest of the Justice League get caught up in a series of weather-related missions and about one-third of the way into the story the JLA begins to suspect that someone is manipulating the weather - summertime blizzards, ultra-thick fogs, record numbers of tornadoes, droughts and even worse abound. The questions, of course, are who is doing this and why are they doing it?

The main characters in this mission are Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, The Martian Manhunter and the Atom who mostly sits in the satellite headquarters monitoring maps and analyzing data. Superman, though, is the star.We get to see how he he somehow pulls off having a secret identity and still has time to be the "Man of Steel." We learn about his specially designed interest to the apartment he shares with his wife, Lois Lane and how he manages to turn in his assignments for the Daily Planet despite the time he takes out to save the world on a regular basis.

Superman has long conversations with his parents, Lois Lane, The Flash (including a nifty little cross-country run together), the Martian Manhunter, Batman and a particularly good one with the Green Lantern in which he is directly asked if he has ever considered just taking over the world and using his powers to make things about as good as they can be. The answer? Yes (who wouldn't, just for a moment?) but he looks to the example of George Washington who turned down the chance to be king twice (for that his old opponent George III called him the greatest man in the world). Superman even philosophizes to the villain in the story about why he fights for the rights of people to lead their own lives, even if they do not appreciate him.

Really, the plot is just an excuse to look at Superman, his life, his fears and how he moves past them, his influences, his philosophy and how he inspires and supports the rest of the Justice League. Batman is intriguing and the Flash is fun but Superman, the original Boy Scout superhero is really the foundation of the whole phenomenon. He is what we would all hope that we would be if we were suddenly endowed with super powers. Listen to this one for a boatload of action, but mostly listen to this one as an homage to Krypton's Last Son and a Kansas farm boy - Superman.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Superman: The Never-Ending Battle.

Reviewed on August 5, 2011.